My 2015 Racing & Training year as a Plonker Roadie ;-)

[Bigbananabike]

My wife doesn't work on Tuesdays so I had another attempt at 100kms planned.

After she got back from in town I got out on the road as soon as I could - which as it was late in the AM the day was already hot!

A road that I'd planned to ride on was covered in new gravel as they were re sealing it (I've requested the council do this for about 3 years so good to see some progress).
I turned left and created a new training block

This one had more climbing in it so some way into the 4th lap I knew I'd had enough and dragged myself home.

71.9kms with hills, headwind home and 26 degrees.

I must be getting fitter as I felt ok after it....just had it today mainly through lack of sleep

 

[Bigbananabike]

Originally Posted by Nigel Doyle
Hi Paul

Bummer about the broken spoke. I've broken a spoke a few times while out mountain biking. I just wrap the broken one around another one and keep on going and do the planned ride. With disc brakes wheel rubbing isn't an issue. I upgraded my Mavic Aksium wheels on my road bike in December for some Token c55a carbon alloy wheels. No lighter but they're areo wheels. No difference at low speed but I think the bike is faster on the flats at 35km/h or more.

Rest day for me yesterday although I did ride my old bike a couple of km's to the veladrome in Feilding and watch some track cycling in the afternoon.

Today's weight before ride 78.3kg so I'm very pleased to have kept the weight off. I'm eating a lot of fruit lately especially when I feel hungry. If I can get from my usual 80kg to 76 or even 75kg that's a 5% reduction. That should give me a noticeable improvement in climbing hills. Interesting was yesterday I picked up about 5 kg of milk just to see what 5kg felt like. Certainly a lot extra weight carry around.

My kids are adults so I'm fine. I'm sure if I was younger I couldn't do the amount of training that I do now. I certainly have no plans to do any ultra distance races. 160km is plenty for me although I would like to do Taupo quicker next time.

50km for me this morning keeping my heart under 140.

Cheers
Nigel

Hi Nigel.
MTB rims are much more solid than road ones and I'm sure less likely to buckle even if a spoke is missing.

Thos Aksiums are nice wheels. I've never heard a bad thing about them...unlike some of the Ksyriums.
The Tokens will be great.
I had some Token C22s - beautiful ceramic coated bearings and about 1600 grams. They just span and span.
I used them for training (mainly) and after a couple of years had to have the bearings replaced. They're not well sealed and I suspect other Token wheels are similar so I'd watch how much water they have to deal with.

Good re your weight. I was 71.7 after ride and 72.8 this morning.
We don't think 5kgs is much but like you say - it counts when you have to lift something that weights that much up!

Oh to have adult kids !!

Paul

 

[Bigbananabike]

I "knocked the ******* off" as it were!

I did my hilly 110kms event yesterday.

It would be the WORST event I've ever done

The weather was great, riders were well behaved and I got with a few good bunches, traffic was good, it was hot but not too bad, beautiful scenery, water stops were well placed(I had plenty of food/drink), well organised.....
it was all down to how pathetic on the bike I was.

I started off fine, riding well up the hills at the start (among the harder climbs of the event) and keeping up with people in bunches etc even leading a bunch for a while....and then I started losing it, dropping off, turning into the headwind (shouldn't have been too hard) and plodding in my lower gears, dragging myself up the climbs, stopping to rest several times....
and ending up one of the last finishers.

People who I ride with who were still there at the finish couldn't believe how late I was getting back.

I'm glad I did it as its all good training but I really need more big miles to do bigger mileage events with any sort of speed.

Apart from feeling worn out and a sore butt there are no obvious aches and pains and thanks to my chiropractor and the excercises even my neck is fine

 

[Nigel Doyle]

Originally Posted by Bigbananabike
People who I ride with who were still there at the finish couldn't believe how late I was getting back.

LOL, you could always say you had 2 punctures

What I would suggest is do shorter races. I often don't do the longer races even though I'm fit enough to do them. Better to do a shorter one well and finish higher up than do a longer one and finish a lot further down.

110km on a course with lots of hills would be a tough race. I've just got home from the Tour de Beautiful 100km race in the Hawkes Bay. My time was 3:14:50, 10min slower than last year but a lot windier this year. I had been hoping for a quicker time as I'm fitter but the wind stuffed that up. I got dropped off the front bunch and ended up in a bunch of about 10. They dawdled a bit riding into the wind. In the end and about 30km from the finish, I left them behind on the hills (they were slow on the hills as well) and went it alone. I then picked up a few riders along the way, riding with them a bit before riding off ahead to the next rider or group of 2 or 3. At least my endurance is good. Just need to work on my strength I reckon to put out more power for the same effort.

I've just bought Graeme Street's Cyclo-Core Masters and In Season training courses. I'm going to work on these over Autumn and Winter. He focuses a lot on high intensity short work outs and core strength rather than lot's of km's, something I'm guilty of i.e. lots of junk km's without much structure or thought of what I need to improve. Once you get past his over the top marketing to get you buy the material, his plans are actually very good. I'll be starting after I do the round Taranaki race next Saturday.

Cheers
Nigel

p.s. Have a rest day tomorrow and do some stretching. That's what I'll be doing.

 

[Bigbananabike]

Sunday, my day of rest

I went out for a hilly little ride after my wife got home from work. 35kms
Feeling had it from Saturday.


Wednesday a slightly less hillier ride for 34kms. She had today off whereas she usually doesn't work on Tuesday. If she hadn't worked yesterday I could've done a longer ride but I need something in the tank for the race tomorrow night.

Thursday night Race. They've started again - 24kms of apparent 'fun' racing but its still competitive!
After changing the stem and bars on my race bike it finally feels like it fits well.

We have a good group that works together well. We dropped a few guys on the second lap up the hills and after the faster bunch caught us I got dropped as well.

I didn't manage to lap it out with a couple of other guys on the flat and make it home with good speed. Ave 31. 44mins.
I'd really like to crack 40mins by the end of the series.

 

[Bigbananabike]

Some recent days grinding out the kms;

22 First Race of the year. They're only 25kms but hilly and competitive. I manged to stay with our group, taking laps etc until the bunch behind us caught us near the top of the main hill. Some of our group can stay with them, some can't. I can't - well not for long.

24 Shop ride. I took my old steel Singlespeed in an effort to shock them....and me! They did a longer and harder route than normal. Just my luck. I managed ok. Had a guy give me a shove on a hill. Nice.
65kms

25 Rode by myself in an effort to recover from yesterday. I also thought I was so stuffed I wouldn't keep up with many of them. Out to Kumeu and 4 laps of our race block and home. Done! 84kms

27 Short hilly ride up to the water treatment station. Really hot again. Up to 29 degrees. 26kms

29 Thursday night race. I'd eaten more the day before so a couple of kgs up on my new lower weight. Boy could I tell. I was really struggling on the first hill and got dropped half way up. I kept up a good pace the rest of the way (basically by myself) and group 2 only caught me about 2kms from the finish whereas they normally catch us most of the second way up the first hill.

31 This morning (Saturday) my wife was working so I got up at 6AM, to find it was raining so clicked the rear mudguard on the 'rello, fitted my new Dosun 500 lumens light (set to flash as not particularly dark) and set off.
My Cateye cordless computer wouldn't work. Bugger ;-(
Half way through my ride after a bit of experimenting i found the new light beside it was stopping it reading. I moved the light away by a cm and hey presto - it works.

Probably did about 40kms

 

[Bigbananabike]

Sunday 1st. I had a planned ride but early on into it I meet a friend with 3 other (friendly) guys riding. I turned around and rode with them. He plans interesting routes - places I wouldn't think to go which included a really steep hill near home. I was in 39/23 doing between 40-50 rpm grunting up it. Good company helped the 61kms disappear

Tuesday 3 Into the hills and the wind. Not used to wind as its been relatively calm around here for the last month. 44kms. Had an old guy pull out and drive across in front of me. Yelling "IDIOT" at him got the message through (I usually stop, write the vehicle details down and do an on line Police complaint).

Wed 4 Rain but not cold so stuck the mudguard on 'rello and put on my happy face and went out for the short hilly one.
They've closed a road that I often use (it'll be closed for a month - building new houses

) so I rode up to the water treatment place and home the same way.

Weight 71.5 after ride so getting there.

 

[Bigbananabike]

Originally Posted by Nigel Doyle

LOL, you could always say you had 2 punctures

What I would suggest is do shorter races. I often don't do the longer races even though I'm fit enough to do them. Better to do a shorter one well and finish higher up than do a longer one and finish a lot further down.

110km on a course with lots of hills would be a tough race. I've just got home from the Tour de Beautiful 100km race in the Hawkes Bay. My time was 3:14:50, 10min slower than last year but a lot windier this year. I had been hoping for a quicker time as I'm fitter but the wind stuffed that up. I got dropped off the front bunch and ended up in a bunch of about 10. They dawdled a bit riding into the wind. In the end and about 30km from the finish, I left them behind on the hills (they were slow on the hills as well) and went it alone. I then picked up a few riders along the way, riding with them a bit before riding off ahead to the next rider or group of 2 or 3. At least my endurance is good. Just need to work on my strength I reckon to put out more power for the same effort.

I've just bought Graeme Street's Cyclo-Core Masters and In Season training courses. I'm going to work on these over Autumn and Winter. He focuses a lot on high intensity short work outs and core strength rather than lot's of km's, something I'm guilty of i.e. lots of junk km's without much structure or thought of what I need to improve. Once you get past his over the top marketing to get you buy the material, his plans are actually very good. I'll be starting after I do the round Taranaki race next Saturday.

Cheers
Nigel

p.s. Have a rest day tomorrow and do some stretching. That's what I'll be doing.

I agree with you re shorter races but the Tour de Ranges was only for training and an interesting place to ride - I just thought I'd do a lot better

You did great in the Tour de Beautiful

Certainly Graeme Street's workout sound good on youtube but there is a lot of fill and little real tips - good reason to do what you've done and buy the plan. Intervals and hill work are where its at for speed. I've never really done many intervals but when I was faster at club racing I would do lots of hills and reasonably short training rides - longest one not being much longer than our Saturday races - say 60kms.

How did the Round Taranaki go for you?

Regards, Paul

 

[Nigel Doyle]

Originally Posted by Bigbananabike
How did the Round Taranaki go for you?

Hi Paul

I had an excellent race at Taranaki. 4:00:01 race time or 3:59:55 actual time (mat to mat) so a really fast race. I hung in with the fast 2nd group and rather than staying near the back I stayed near the front. Less chance of being dropped when things stretch out as they do. Average speed of 37km/h was just awesome. Perfect day with almost no wind.

I'm down to 76.1kg this morning so very pleased with my weight. I reckon I can lose a couple more kg's and be a lean machine The cyclo90 training is tough and working me hard. I should end up stronger. Yeah a lot of Graeme Street's stuff on the net is an advert to buy the training and he's over the top. The training material once you get past this is actually top notch. The indoor trainer sessions I've done have been harder than anything I've done before. The outdoor ones are challenging but I quite enjoy them.

Cheers
Nigel

 

[Bigbananabike]

Thursday 5th Race at Kumeu. An extra 2kgs on my gut really makes the difference as I was dropped by my bunch 3/4 of the way up the first hill

There was a head wind going up (and across the top) but that's no excuse as I was tucked in behind some guys.
I rode most of the rest of it by myself (sat on a faster guy who collected me a couple of kms from the finish) and actually did an ok time considering.

Saturday 7th Dragged out my Singlespeed again and did the club ride. Its never an easy ride but its satisfying. I was on the only SS there. 61kms

Sunday 8th Hardly a breath of wind, overcast (didn't even wear my sunnies for the first half of the ride) and not too hot. I rode out to Kumeu and did 5 1/2 laps of the shorter North Harbour club circuit and rode home with a short diversion to complete the 100kms at last

9th Totally hilly ride over the mighty Waitakeres. Straight up Forest Hill road near home, over Scenic Drive, careering down the other side through Swanson and over the little hills home. 31kms A lovely place to ride with expansive views of the city but its middle of the day, middle of the week only as its much safer car-wise.

10th Short hilly ride to water treatment place. 26kms. Work to do and lunch with my wife so short of time. 71.0kgs

I don't know about riding tomorrow with the race coming on Thursday night - I'm torn between making good use of the excellent weather and possible weight loss and conversely saving what little on bike energy I have for the race.

 

[Nigel Doyle]

Some good efforts

You'd better watch out with your weight, I'm catching you up. I'm down to 75.9kg this morning. I had a good ride Tuesday evening. I was working in Hasting and rode to the top of Te Mata peak. Very warm!!

Cheers
Nigel

 

[Bigbananabike]

Thursday 12/2 Carrying just that little extra weight = dropped earlier

Sunday 15/2 Gut full of our son's birthday party picnic so rode by myself 33kms.


16/ Monday short ride up to Water place and as they've closed a road a different way home. I thought something was up with my bike but it was a guy with a flat tyre still driving his car slowly. Had a word to him.
22kms. Customer coming so little time to ride.

Wednesday 18/2. Waited until my wife got back from work to get out. Rode up Palimino road which is steep then up to Kay Road which is not as steep but longer and repeated it 5 times and rode home. 28.8kms. Probably should've saved myself for below!

Thursdays race DOC 19/2 Felt good in the bunch until near the top of the second lap up the hill and got dropped. No power to bridge back on.
24kms

Saturday 21/2 Counties Manukau club Openning day. This year most of the races are in the morning which I don't agree with (said so on the survey) but there you go. Drove all the way to Ramarama to the start. Some really fast looking guys/bike (Lightspeed wheels etc) in my C grade (2 more grades below us). 48kms race (2 of the big circuit). Did well near the front of the bunch until a long hill and one guy did a flyer off the front. Bunch chased and I couldn't keep up and drifted off the back with another guy. We rode well together - him leading on the flats and me up the hills. We caught three others who I invited to join (one guy did work at the front too) so that was fine until 28kms in and another one of my rear spokes broke
It didn't put the wheel out of true but I went back to the start, told them and drove home.


Sunday 22/2 Did the shop ride on my Singlespeed. After grinding my way up Ridge road, we stopped at the top and 5 of us (including a tri guy with full on noisy carbon wheels), rode down to Albany (brilliant down hill - max. 70.7kph), over Upper Harbour Drive, back to the shop and home. 68.3kms

 

[Bigbananabike]

23/2 Up and over Scenic Drive. Road works going on on the way up was a bit annoying and I stopped to remove a large branch that had dropped on the road. So nice to be up in the bush. 31kms.

24/2 Up to the water place.

25/2 Probably should've done no ride or a shorter ride but 30.6 around the hills.

26/2 Race at Kumeu. Rode really well ;-) Faster on the climbs than some of the guys who usually beat me. I put it down to weight loss - I'm faster on the steeper parts because of it. I also cracked 40mins for the 24kms.

1/3 Counties Manukau club race. Strange it was on a Sunday morning but a beautiful day for it. 56kms. 20 of us. These races have got far more competitive - there is no let up!
4 laps with 2 gradual hills each lap. One is more gentle but a really rough surface the other one steeper and generally faster. I went well for 2 1/2 laps but got dropped up the second hill on the third lap. Came back 20th.

2/3 Up Forest Hill road, over Scenic Drive, down to Swanson, up and over Coulter to home. This was all (apart from the down hills) climbing. I'm going to try to do this ride more - so hard and good for me. 31kms.

3/3 Ride to water place. Weight when I got home was 68.9kgs. Nice ;-)

5/3 Race at Kumeu. Went ok for 1 lap but at the end of it the faster group behind caught us and a few of us couldn't stay with them or even catch the rest of our bunch who had stayed with them and then dropped off. I guess I did well enough - for me.

8/3 Rode into the city (well, more of the city) this morning to see a customer. She lives at the bottom part of Remuera and I would normally have ridden Tamaki Drive (very popular with riders) but as the Round the Bays fun run was on there I took an alternative route. Did it on my singlespeed.
Nearly got wiped out but a car full of Polynesians turning into a road I was crossing ;-( They're now getting a Police report.
52kms

10/3 A bit longer - trying to wear off all the salted peanuts I ate last night ;-( Felt good on the way out to Kumeu but when I got there realised that I only felt good as I'd had a tailwind most of the way. Home into the head/side wind. Joy 51kms

11/3 Another sunny day in Auckland. Short but sweet up to water treatment place and back home 22.8kms


*Last night I entered the Cycle for life on the 29th. I'm doing the 107kms course. I really need to bump up my mileage as my last 100kms ride was now two weeks ago. The last time I did that course was another even on the 17th of Jan and I hadn't prepared properly and was VERY slow.

 

[kana_marie]

Good luck! I hope this year is A LOT better than your last!!